The government promises to evaluate the extinction of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and the newly created agency that oversees the processes of regularization and integration of immigrants, admitting to limiting access to residence permits for foreigners.
“Promote a rigorous evaluation of the abolition of SEF and its integration into other services, namely to identify and correct legal non-compliance, operational failures and areas of conflict of competences,” says the program of the XXIV Constitutional Government delivered today in the Assembly of the Republic.
In the same vein, the government is also proposing to “evaluate the restructuring of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, in order to correct legal and operational flaws and conflicts of competence”.
The previous Socialist executive abolished SEF, which was abolished on October 29, 2022, passing on the police powers of this security service to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while the administrative functions related to immigrants were transferred to the new agency and the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN), and the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit was created, which operates under the Secretary General of the Internal Security System.
The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which deals with the regularization and integration of immigrants in Portugal, also took over the competences of the now defunct High Commission for Migration
In the chapter dedicated to security, the government talks about migration by saying: “It is indisputable that Portugal must remain a welcoming country, open to receiving those who want to study, work and live here, but it is also true that we must ensure mechanisms for controlling and monitoring those who cross our borders, as well as clear and well-defined rules on who is allowed to live and stay in our country.”
In the program, the executive led by Luís Montenegro intends to: “adopt the principle that we are a country with doors open to immigration, but not wide open”, materialized in quantitative objectives for immigration, weighing the dimension of security, prioritizing in terms of qualifications and avoiding exploitation by illegal and criminal networks”.
